Fire Doors: The First Line of Defence in Residential Fire Safety

Fire doors are engineered life-safety systems. Designed and tested to resist fire and smoke for defined periods, they provide the time residents need to escape and emergency services need to intervene. But they only work if they are correctly specified, installed, maintained, and compatible with the building’s fire strategy. 

For those responsible for residential assets, understanding whether fire doors will perform as intended is not optional; it is fundamental to protecting residents, safeguarding your organisation, and fulfilling your legal duties.

It’s more than just the door 

A fire door is not simply a heavy door leaf. It is a complete, tested door set including the door leaf itself, the frame, hinges, intumescent seals, smoke seals, glazing (where applicable), self-closing device, and appropriate ironmongery. Each component plays a defined role. Intumescent strips expand under heat to seal gaps; smoke seals limit the spread of cold smoke in the early stages of a fire; self-closers ensure the door returns reliably to its closed position. If any one of these elements is missing, damaged, incompatible, or poorly installed, the fire resistance of the entire assembly may be compromised.

In residential buildings, fire doors are typically integral to a “stay put” or phased evacuation strategy. Compartmentation, through walls, floors, and doors, prevents fire from spreading beyond the flat of origin for a defined period. This allows other residents to remain safely within their flats while the incident is managed. If fire doors fail, smoke and fire can breach compartments, leech into common escape routes, undermine the building’s fire strategy, and significantly increase risk to life.

Fire Door Audits 

The first essential step for any responsible person or duty holder is to commission a comprehensive fire door audit. An audit is a systematic assessment of all relevant fire doors within a building to establish: 

• What doors are present (flat entrance doors, communal doors, riser doors, plant room doors, etc.)

• Their fire rating

• The condition and compatibility of all of the visible components

• Installation quality and maintenance history

• Their alignment with the building’s overarching fire strategy and fire risk assessment.

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An audit provides a baseline understanding. In many existing residential buildings, particularly older stock, records may be incomplete, doors may have been replaced piecemeal, and modifications may have occurred without adequate oversight. Without an initial audit, duty holders cannot confidently state whether their compartmentation strategy is intact or whether doors are capable of delivering their designed fire resistance.

Audits vs Inspections 

It is important to distinguish between a fire door audit and the statutory inspections required under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. The Regulations mandate routine checks of flat entrance doors (at least annually) and communal fire doors (at least quarterly) in multi-occupied residential buildings over 11 metres in height. These inspections are ongoing compliance checks focused on visible defects and functional performance, such as self-closing operation, damage, or gaps.

By contrast, a fire door audit is a more in-depth, often one-off or periodic,  strategic assessment. It may include detailed measurement of gaps, verification of certification, intrusive checks where appropriate, assessment of signage and hardware compatibility, and evaluation of how doors integrate with the building’s fire compartmentation and evacuation strategy. In short, inspections maintain compliance; audits establish assurance. 

Without a robust audit at the outset, routine inspections risk becoming a procedural exercise rather than a meaningful safety control. An audit ensures that inspection regimes are proportionate, targeted, and informed by the actual condition and configuration of the building.

Evidence Based Assurance 

Protecting residents requires more than policy. it requires evidence-based assurance that fire safety measures will perform under real-world conditions.

If you are responsible for a residential building and need to understand the true condition of your fire doors and their role within your fire strategy, contact Ark today to arrange a professional fire door audit and take a decisive step toward safeguarding your residents. Ark provides comprehensive fire door audit services designed to give duty holders clarity, compliance confidence, and actionable recommendations.

Author - David J. Hills FRICS, FIIRSM, MIFireE, MSFPE, RSP
Senior Director - Regulatory, Technical & Technology Solutions